Council will submit two applications to the Sport and Recreation Victoria Regional Community Sports and Infrastructure Fund.
The applications, which were endorsed by Councillors at an Ordinary Meeting of Council last night (26/03), are for $3 million for the Maryborough Outdoor Pool project and $1 million for stage one of the Deledio Recreation Reserve Pavilion Project.
The Maryborough Outdoor Pool funding submission is in addition to the current application to the Federal Government's Living Regions Fund – of which an outcome is imminent. Should Council be successful in receiving both grants, this would reduce Council's borrowings for the project from $4 million to $1 million.
Both projects are identified in Council's Priority Projects Plan and are projects that Council have been advocating for some time.
In February, Council submitted 14 projects for funding through the Victorian Government's Regional Development Victoria Tiny Towns Fund.
The funding stream aims to support local projects in communities with a population of 5,000 people or less.
The Fund supports the delivery of community infrastructure, facilities, and capacity building projects with grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 available.
The projects selected for submission were identified as being shovel-ready projects which align with the funding guidelines and Council and community priorities.
The following projects were submitted:
- Adelaide Lead: Install plumbing to allow water to the Hall - $9,000
- Bealiba: Restore horse trough and relocate - $21,563.
- Bowenvale: Playground relocation - $50,000.
- Carisbrook: Tullaroop Leisure Centre upgrades including squash court restoration, main court resealing, carpet and security upgrades - $50,000.
- Carisbrook: Gazebo and landscaping at Market Reserve - $21,563
- Carisbrook: Lions Club Building Repaint - $27,000
- Carisbrook: Town Hall Minor Renewal – Stonework and render repairs internally / major visual cracking - $22,500.
- Carisbrook: Solar lighting along Tullaroop Reservoir - $50,000.
- Dunolly: Senior Citizens Hall Renewal – Switchboard and Heating/Cooling upgrade - $31,050.
- Dunolly: Playground improvements at Dunolly Netball Courts - $34,500.
- Dunolly: Town Hall Minor Renewal – rejuvenating office space - $37,500.
- Majorca: Fencing at Cemetery - $37,500.
- Talbot: ANA Hall Restump, structural repairs, re-lay flooring, pressed metal repairs and roof repairs - $50,000.
- Shire-wide: Workshops to build community capacity through skill development in grant writing, event management, governance and partnership development- $15,000.
Central Goldfields Shire Mayor Cr Liesbeth Long said Federal and state funding streams were critical for small rural councils such as ours to deliver new and upgraded infrastructure.
"As much as we'd love to be able to finance every single project that is needed across the municipality, the reality is that rural councils like ours just don't have the spare funds to do this - we rely heavily on state and federal government funding.
"Grant applications take a lot of work and I'd like to give a big shout out to our Council officers for pulling these applications together – I know a huge amount of work went into each of them. I'd also like to thank the community members involved in contributing to the Sporting Recreation Victoria grants – without their support and the power of work they put into the supporting documentation the applications wouldn't have been possible.
"We have everything crossed that our funding applications are successful so that we can deliver these significant projects for our community."
Tiny Towns Fund
Under the Tiny Towns grants stream a 25% cash co-contribution is required per application from rural councils. If all applications proposed were successful, Council would be required to contribute $182,245 in capital expenditure (to complete $675,826 in projects) in its 2024/2025 Annual Budget. Some projects listed above also include a contribution from local community groups.
